07/25/2013

Fortune's Thoughts On Detroit's Future: No More Eight Mile

One overlooked factor that could favorably influence Detroit's
future is its geography. There are few natural boundaries to separate
the dying city from the generally more prosperous suburbs north of Eight
Mile Road or east to Grosse Pointe, and the highway system makes
long-distance commuting simple. The lack of barriers has facilitated
the outflow of people beyond the city limits who take their incomes and assets with them.

Detroit needs to connect with those people and that wealth to
survive. The solution would be to merge the city with the surrounding
counties of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb, an area already known as Metro
Detroit, into a consolidated city-county government. Doing so would
spread the costs of police, fire, schools, and other municipal services,
allowing those brave urban pioneers who want to relocate in the city to
do so with less sacrifice. If the entire region was treated as one
economic entity, then Detroit could make better use of its competitive
advantages – access to the Great Lakes and Canada, a strong presence in
medical and information technology – without having to struggle with
the efficient delivery of services that has proved so elusive.

Comments

One overlooked factor that could favorably influence Detroit's
future is its geography. There are few natural boundaries to separate
the dying city from the generally more prosperous suburbs north of Eight
Mile Road or east to Grosse Pointe, and the highway system makes
long-distance commuting simple. The lack of barriers has facilitated
the outflow of people beyond the city limits who take their incomes and assets with them.

Detroit needs to connect with those people and that wealth to
survive. The solution would be to merge the city with the surrounding
counties of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb, an area already known as Metro
Detroit, into a consolidated city-county government. Doing so would
spread the costs of police, fire, schools, and other municipal services,
allowing those brave urban pioneers who want to relocate in the city to
do so with less sacrifice. If the entire region was treated as one
economic entity, then Detroit could make better use of its competitive
advantages – access to the Great Lakes and Canada, a strong presence in
medical and information technology – without having to struggle with
the efficient delivery of services that has proved so elusive.